THE PROTAGONIST: Oriana Fox

23 Jan 2012

No Gallery Necessary

Lynn Hershman Leeson, Roberta's Body Language Chart, 1978

A couple of weeks ago I had to give a presentation (a 3000 word paper) outlining my PhD research. I described as best I could the connections I've been making between feminist performance art and self-help, explaining how self-disclosure, prevalent in live art and therapeutic contexts, is the focus of my analysis as a tactic of belonging and possibly empowerment. Simon O'Sullivan pointed out that the activities of the artists I am looking at (as well as my own work) are representations, so it's one step removed from life and therefore to look to these activities as 'technologies of the self' or potential ethical models is a bit odd (not necessarily impossible, but strange and intriguing). I'm not quoting him verbatim, but the gist of what he was saying, or rather asking, was how am I to deal with these different registers of life and representation? It's an interesting point and one I haven't considered in detail yet. That said, his words reminded me of a comment made by the artist Lynn Hersmann Leeson at the screening of her film Women Art Revolution at Whitechapel gallery in December. Someone asked her why performance art was a medium taken up by so many women artists during second-wave feminism's heyday, to which she responded that it's a medium that did not require institutional support; you could do it in your daily life - no gallery necessary. So as a woman who was struggling to find a space to make art (or get recognition as an artist), it was a solution. From 1973-9 Leeson lived as her alter-ego Roberta Breitmore, who got a driver's license and even went to see a psychotherapist. Breitmore is Leeson's lived representation of selfhood, and the activity of being someone else is a way of acting in the world (as an artist and a person) that deserves consideration. Today women's representation in the art world has not reached total parity with men, but we're a lot better off now (as Leeson's more recent institutional successes make evident). The idea that a woman can be an artist (or any other profession, for that matter) is not an issue. So the question is, what remains worthwhile about performance art as a feminist or ethical practice?

16 Dec 2011

Symposium Perfection

It seems like it's one symposium after another these days. First there was the trashing symposia that made me feel appropriately degraded, then there was the panel on the feminist flirt which got me a little overexcited, followed shortly thereafter by the symposium on feminist art and the 80s which left me in tears. Hopefully this next one at Whitechapel will be just right, in fact it looks like they may have perfected it! (ba dum ching) The photographer Jo Longhurst has organised a 2-day symposium on perfection from 3-4 Feb 2012 and decided to show one of my videos during it. Strange that my work should be included since I'm much more into unperfectionism and embracing failare. In the words of psychologist Albert Ellis, "excessive striving to be perfect will invariably lead to disillusionment, heartache and self-hatred." In fact, in one of his most early books, endearingly titled How to Live with a Neurotic (1957), he included perfectionism among the main irrational ideas leading to disturbance. So wait, I'd better bring along my U.S.A. (unconditional self acceptance, that is) to the Whitechapel.

Whitechapel Gallery
On Perfection

Thursday 2 February, 9.45am–5.45pm & Friday 3 February, 9.45am–4.30pm

International artists and writers discuss how concepts of perfection shape our personal identities and social and political systems. Featuring new research, screenings, artist conversations and performance, the programme includes Julian Rosefeldt on his video installation The Perfectionist and Ray Müller, director of The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, on his experience of working with Hitler’s infamous propagandist - the ultimate perfectionist.

7 Dec 2011

One thing at a time or all at once?

I'm still no expert at project management using the gantt chart method. I had the sinking feeling I hadn't accomplished all that much from my last attempt at this kind of self-organisation, but I was surprised to find that the contents of my last chart were for the most part all dealt with in one way or another (except for the backload of video editing of performance documentation, which has made its way onto this chart, hopefully not in vain!). Doing this has made me feel as if I have no time, rather than making me feel calm and collected. Not sure if I'm doing this right...

3 Dec 2011

Women Artists, Feminism in the 80s and Now

Women Artists, Feminism in the 80s and Now Symposium

Saturday 3 December, Goldsmiths University, Ben Pimlott Building, 10am-5pm

Free, no refreshment provided

For more information contact Althea Greenan: a.greenan@gold.ac.uk

Access: see campus map and for additional info: http://www.gold.ac.uk/find-us/

The symposium is collaboration between The Women’s Art Library and BAG Women (Brixton Art Gallery women artists group) to coincide with Brixton Calling! exhibition at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (28 October – 21 December 2012).

Women Artists, Feminism in the 80s and Now is a cross generational symposium that examines the legacy of UK 80s women artists and feminists in the light of current feminist practice and thinking.

The symposium aims to recall 80s Feminist practice, thinking, debates and campaigns and discuss their relevance today for a new generation of women artists and feminists.

The symposium is part of a series of events, held during Brixton Calling! including a 3 day 80s Women Lens Based Media Event (10-12 November 2011, Brixton Village). For more information contact: e-mail: info@198.org.uk

Brixton Calling! (2011) is a collaborative and participatory project, connecting contemporary Brixton to its past through the history of 1980s Brixton Art Gallery & Artists Collective and their archives. Based at the Brixton Art Gallery, 2 women artists groups: Women's Work and Black Women In View, initiated and curated ambitious and powerful exhibitions and led courses, conferences and public events; contributing to local and international political campaigns and debates around Feminist art and aesthetics, sexuality, race and gender.

For Brixton Calling! exhibition, artists Françoise Dupré and Rita Keegan have created an Archives Installation, celebrating the contribution Women Artists and Feminism made to the Brixton Art Gallery. For the project, Dupré and Keegan have reactivated Brixton Art Gallery's network of women artists to form Brixton Calling! BAG Women.

Symposium Question and Themes

Debates about 80s feminist art often raise contradictory but relevant questions: 80s feminist art practice has been forgotten, parodied, emptied out of content, re-enacted, has produced paralyzing reverence and ongoing tension between past and present generations.

The symposium’s running question is:

Drawing from 80s Feminist aesthetics, ethics and practice, how can we today develop a critical and relevant feminist art practice?

It will be addressed by ‘young’ and ‘old’ feminists through panel and group discussions and a concluding plenary session.

Two interconnected themes have been identified:

· Body Politics (performativity, identity formation, race, sexuality)

· Public sphere (community engagement, education, places)

Symposium Format

Symposium’s Mistress of Ceremony: Rita Keegan, Brixton Calling! co curator

10am: Registration

10.15: Welcoming introduction by Rita Keegan

10.30am-10.45am: Introduction by Althea Greenan, Women’s Art Library curator

10.45-11.15am Introduo Rebecca Snow, Brixton Calling! volunteer and Françoise Dupré, Brixton Calling!

project co-manager/curator

11.15am-12.45pm: Panel discussion

11.15am-12.15pm: Panel presentations (15 minutes each)

Artists Rosy Martin, Roxane Permar, Shanti Thomas, reflect individually upon 80s feminist engagement with Body Politics and the Public Sphere.

Catherine Grant addresses the tension and problematic about re-visiting 80s feminist art practice in the light of today feminism.

12.15pm-12.45pm: Panel discussion, moving debate forward for the afternoon sessions

12.45pm-1.30 Lunch

1.30pm-2.15pm: 3 group discussions responding to morning panel discussions to be lead by a younger generation of feminists including: Oriana Fox, Diana Georgiou, Rachael House, Rebecca Snow + more

Topics for the 3 groups: Body Politics, Education and third one to be identified on the day in response to the morning discussion

2.15-2.30: Break

2.30pm- 3.30pm: Group reports and panel discussion

3.30pm-3.45pm: Break

3.45-4.15pm: Bringing together by Rebecca Fortnum

4.15-5pm: audience response

5pm: end of symposium

25 Nov 2011

The Feminist and The Flirt

As part of the Underwire Festival at the Shortwave Cinema in Bermondsey tomorrow from 12-1.30pm, I'll be speaking in a panel entitled...

The Feminist and the Flirt: Performance Video Art

Here's some more info:

Does being a woman on both sides of the camera compromise or strengthen the feminist agenda in your work? Are you the subject, object, or the collaborating voyeur? How can you avoid re-enforcing those representations that you intend to subvert? Join a panel of artists, curators and writers to explore new and old challenges facing contemporary female performance video artists.

Speaker biographies

Harriet Fleuriot (chair)
Harriet is a filmmaker and performance artist with a penchant for arts-based comedy. She graduated from the BA Film Production at the Arts Institute Bournemouth in 2005 and the following year wrote, directed and performed the award-winning UKFC-funded Digital Short “A Short Collection of Hilary Flamingo’s Dream Vocations”. Since then, her (often collaborative) work has been shown in the UK and internationally at film festivals, galleries, art clubs, old car show rooms, old kebab shops and eastend drinking holes.

Gil Leung
Gil Leung is a writer and curator based in London. She is Distribution Manager at LUX, London and Editor of VERSUCH journal. She previously worked as Assistant Curator for Tate Film producing projects like Expanded Cinema, the Baldesssari Frieze Oil Tank Commisssions and the Tate Live programme. Gil writes for Afterall and various independent publications.

Oriana Fox
Oriana Fox is an artist who uses mainly performance and video to reference and critique both the representation of women in contemporary media and the iconic feminist artists of the 1970s. She graduated from Washington University in 2000 and Goldsmiths College in 2003. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Women Should Be In Charge’ at the ICA, London, ‘The Do It All Dating Game’ at Nottingham Contemporary, and ‘Happiness Happenings’ with The Hayward Huddle, Royal Festival Hall, London. Fox is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD in the Visual Cultures department at Goldsmiths.

Mo Throp
Dr Mo Throp is an Associate Researcher with the CCW Graduate School at Chelsea; she is a practising artist, curator and writer. She was BA Fine Art Course Director at Chelsea until 2011 and was previously critical theory tutor on the MA Fine Art at Goldsmiths. Mo studied sculpture at St Martin’s College of art followed by an MA and PhD at Chelsea. With Dr Maria Walsh, Mo is co-convenor of the Subjectivity & Feminisms Research group at Chelsea. Mo is an AHRC Peer Review College panel member.

Katie O’Brien
Katie Bridget O’Brien has a fine art BA specialising in performance and video. She is now a solo artist, performer, writer and collaborator. Her recent projects include co-founding The Muffia (satirical feminist provocateurs) and working as one half of the comedy duo The Bareback Banshees. Katie has been the Arts Editor for UK Feminista’s blog and volunteered for the charity Women in Prison.

21 Nov 2011

MoSCoW Prioritisation Technique

Once again I'm applying business project management tools to guide my work as an artist. This time I'm using what's known as the MoSCoW method which is helping me to prioritise topics I'm writing about in the first chapter of my PhD. Sitting down at the screen my mind was all in a muddle. I started by doing mind maps but they got a bit overwhelming, quite like my mind. The MoSCow method on the other hand seems more promising. I have written the ideas I believe I will need to address in my chapter on a bunch of index cards. Then I categorised them as follows:

the cards under the letter 'M' must be done in order for the chapter to be a success
the cards under the letter 'S' should be done, these are high priority but can be satisfied in other ways if absolutely necessary
the cards under the letter 'C' could be done because it's desirable but not necessary
the cards under the letter 'W' are things I would like to address, but perhaps it's better to do that at a latter date or in another chapter.

17 Nov 2011

Give & Take @ Trash Salon

Here are some pictures documenting my raffle at the Trash Salon in October where we raffled away people's trashed ideas for performance pieces. We each have a year to complete the idea that we won.

Presented by Performance Matters, a collaboration between Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Roehampton, and the Live Art
Development Agency financially assisted by AHRC. Documentation by Christa Holka.

9 Nov 2011

Give & Take 2

(This was the idea I won yesterday.)

I asked students, lecturers and the other performance artists in attendance at the Where Land Meets Water live art event at Southampton Solent University yesterday to supply trashed ideas for artworks. These ideas were then raffled away and we now all have one year to complete them. Wish me luck!

9 Nov 2011

for our freedom years - ends this Friday

FOR OUR FREEDOM YEARS AT TOWN HOUSE
29 October – 11 November 2011
5 Fournier Street, London, E1 6QE
forourfreedomyears@blogspot.com

for our freedom years is a reaction to ‘women’s culture', to the idea that as women we share the same ideals, beliefs and problems, fundamentally the same identity; an identity that is expected and in many cases embraced by females in mainstream society. This exhibition explores the multitude of categories imposed on women throughout historical and popular culture and how they hold little relevance to the reality of femininity. Artists Gemma Donovan and Kerry Clark take us on an investigation of what it means to them to be women through the playing out of these archetypes.

Working with the atmosphere of Town House shop, the artists chose to combine the art with antiques, creating a playful relationship between the work, the spectator, the historic and the domestic. The viewers are asked to explore the space and seek out the art.

-for our freedom years events----------

5 Nov 2011
‘Women Talk Women in Art!’ took place in the heart of every home, the kitchen, where FOFY’s lived out their dreams of domestic godliness through the supply of Victoria sponge cake, gingerbread ‘men’ and of course every gossips sidekick; tea. Oriana Fox presented Performance Art Can Change Your Life for the Better, the awe inspiring story of self transformation from the shy ‘plain Jane’ to the self-assured and hugely glamorous Oriana, host of the O Show. Oriana took the attendees, including Queen Mary’s Women in the Arts Society and Caroline Halliday who runs Sir John Cass’ Feminist Group, on a journey of how her influences have shaped her work, and ultimately how performance has improved all aspects of her life.

forourfreedomyears.blogspot.com (coming soon: forourfreedomyears.com)
gemmadonovan.co.uk
kerryclark.co.uk
orianafox.com

7 Nov 2011

Production Values

I've been struggling with editing the existing episodes of The O Show because I can't reconcile my desired aesthetic with the production values achieved in the recordings of the live events. This concern has come to a head since showing my work (and this particular clip) at a talk on Saturday as part of the exhibition For Our Freedom Years organised by two of my former students Kerry Clarke and Gemma Donavan. The question keeps coming up, is the 'look' of the video document a conscious choice? Are you going for an anti-chat show aesthetic? Sadly, the answer is: I did what I could under the circumstances, so no, it doesn't have the 'look' I most want. I'd love for The O Show to approximate more closely the production values of mainstream talk shows, but I simply don't have that kind of budget. I could go for a more consciously alternative aesthetic, a highly personalised one, as Jennifer Sullivan has done with her It's a Process series, creating the set out of her own paintings and sculptures. As of now the solution is yet to be found. I want to create a visually stimulating and thought-provoking video series, but I also want to push the show forward in terms of content which means simply making more shows despite the shoestring budget. Do I put future shows on hold while I do some fundraising to acheive higher end production values or do I go on making shows that work as live events and don't translate as well to video? Does performance documentation have to be boring and ugly? Can I find a compromise?

The below TED talk video is not only fascinating in terms of the content, but it looks great. Clearly a large sum of money has gone into this. I'm wondering if I can approximate these production values for my shows with slightly less extravagant means.